Chapter One

Any Old Thing Will Do

Lucinda Strumpet was a busy woman and, as busy people are prone to do, she often forgot things that were not so important to her but that were greatly important to other people.  The other person, in this particular case, was her oldest daughter Jenny. The important thing, as it was, happened to be Jenny’s tenth birthday.

With her phone to her ear and Jenny’s younger brother latching onto her side Lucinda strode onto the third floor of Grumman and Fletchley’s Department Store, (conveniently located near the building where Mrs. Strumpet worked) and into the toy department. If there was something particularly magical about the place �" something particularly strange �" she didn’t notice it as she walked past the precariously perched stacks of spellbooks and salves and swept past tiny, fluttering fairies in their cages.

Trevor, the little boy, looked up in wonder at a glittering gold monkey as it darted from shelf to shelf, finally leaping up onto the sign that hung over the front counter that denoted the third floor of Grumman and Fletcher’s Department Store as Grumman and Fletcher’s Toy Emporium and Bizarre Bazaar.

“Can I help you?” a man asked, finally catching Lucinda’s attention away from the phone.

“Er…one moment,” she said. Excusing herself from her conversation (which happened to have been an important business call) she dropped her phone into her purse and looked across the counter and into the face of Mr. Grumman himself.

“I’m looking for a gift for my daughter,” she said. “Jenny. Today’s her tenth birthday,” she said with a sigh.

“A very good age,” said Mr. Grumman. “I was ten years old, once. And after that eleven, which was a very nice age also, though not so nice as ten.”

Heaving a large sigh, because she had so many other things to do, Mrs. Strumpet dug into her purse and pulled out her wallet. “I’d rather it be under a hundred dollars, if you don’t mind. If we can keep it closer to fifty, even better.”

Mr. Grumman nodded sagely. High above them the monkey chittered, darting from one side to the other of the sign and leering down into Mrs. Strumpet’s purse. Mr. Grumman shook his head and put his finger to his lips as Trevor giggled excitedly, clapping his hands. Mrs. Strumpet noticed none of this, as she had pulled out her day planner and was quickly flipping through the pages, making small marks here and there.

“Might I ask what you were thinking of getting her?” asked Mr. Grumman.

Mrs. Strumpet didn’t even look up from her planner. “Oh, I don’t know. She’s too old for dolls, I suppose. Not old enough for computer games or anything like that.” She trailed off as she became very interested in a note she was making on her calendar. Mr. Grumman stared at her expectantly¸ until it became obvious that she’d forgotten to continue.

“Ah…how about a nice coloring set?” he said, moving toward a nearby shelf where a dozen shining boxes filled with markers and pencils had been stacked.

“I don’t think she likes to draw,” said Mrs. Strumpet, with a slight frown. She actually wasn’t certain about that �" hadn’t Jenny drawn her a card for Mother’s Day the month before? But no, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Mr. Grumman nodded, chuckling slightly to himself. He moved further down the shelves, hands reaching out. “We have magic,” he said, “magic of all shapes and sizes.” He picked up a slender silver wand, waving it gently. Unseen by Mrs. Strumpet a willowy shape emerged from its tip, arcing up into the air in the shape of a wispy green dragon. Trevor giggled excitedly and the monkey reached out to grasp at it, the shape exploding into a cloud of smoke at his touch.

“Oh, I don’t think she’d like a magic set at all,” said Mrs. Strumpet. She picked her phone back out of her purse and started clicking away at the buttons. “I really don’t know,” she said absently as she put it to her ear. “You probably know more about this than I do.”

“I’m certain,” he said, bowing slightly. “So…ah, is there anything else I can show you?” he asked.

Mrs. Strumpet waved her hand at him dismissively as a tinny voice erupted on the other end of the phone. “Just choose something for me,” she said. “Any old thing will do.”

Pausing slightly, Mr. Grumman watched the woman and her son as she stood at the counter. The monkey bobbed up and down and the old man smiled. “Any old thing will do,” he muttered to himself, and with that he moved back through the shelves, past bottled genies and ancient rugs that lifted of their shelves to watch him with mild curiosity. A row of tin soldiers all turned to watch as he walked solemnly to the very back of the store, where he gently picked up a small blue box.

He stared at it for a moment. Then he made his way back up to the front counter where Mrs. Grumman stood, chatting with her boss’s accountant’s secretary over something that could have waited, and laid the box gently down in front of the register.

Pressing a few buttons, the register rang out. On the sign above the counter the monkey gave out a slight shriek of surprise. Trevor squealed. “That’ll be $59.47,” he said with a wrinkled smile.

Without a second glance Mrs. Strumpet handed him her credit card. Then Mr. Grumman slipped the little blue box into a brightly colored bag, marked Grumman and Fletchley’s Toy Emporium and Bizarre Bazaar, and passed it to her. She nodded at him in farewell and turned around, noticing no more as she left than she had when she came in.

 

Reviews

[Joanne]

Whoa 0.0 Megan you're so good!!!
I love the whimsy in this and definitely how it's like a children's book. I was just reading Howl's Moving Castle and your writing reminds me of how Diana Wynne Jones writes. Well, I hope you like her at least.
Although there's a couple of places where there are quotation marks instead of commas. I'm not quite sure how that happened but that happened in a couple of my flash fictions so maybe it's just the website.
Anyway, time for chapter 2 Megan =D